Reddit reviews ASUS PCI-Express x1 Sound Card XONAR Essence STX/90-YAA0C0-0UAN00Z

I've been using a pair of Sennheiser HD650's for a few years now, and the sound is simply incredible. I was upgrading from some pretty cheap headphones at the time, so I did a lot of research, and tried a few high-end pairs. The Sennheisers were the most expensive I tried, but the quality was so notably better that I just went with them.

I listen mostly to classical, but also a fair amount of rock / pop / etc as well. Radiohead has never sounded so good.

The only other thing I might mention is I also got myself a good soundcard for my PC, as that's my music source. The card I have is the Asus Xonar Essence. That's also fairly high-end, but just be aware that if you have a cheap (or on-board) soundcard, the headphones won't reach their potential. I speak from some experience, as when I upgraded to a proper sound-card for the first time, my pretty cheap headphones at the time suddenly sounded 10X better. It was a revelation!

honestly an external dac/amp would be better than a soundcard, but if you arent willing to spend 100-200 extra for the dac/amp it would be better to go with headphones such as the sennheiser hd558/598 or ath m50x (I think the beyerdynamic dt770 also had a 32 ohm variant), as they dont require as much power.

If you however dont have a problem with the added price I would recommend the obective2+dac or the schiit magni and modi. THe fiio e12 and e18 are also good if you want portable amplifiers.There are cheaper alternatives out there, but they arent as good. There are also more expensive dac/amps out there, but then its usually double the price for a few percent better quality, so I dont think its worth it

But If you really want a soundcard instead of external dac/amps I have heard good things about the asus xonar essence stx, and they should be good as long as the headphones arent 600ohm (they might work great for 600 ohm headphones too, but I havent really checked). If you choose to go the soundcard route it might be good if you check for other alternatives too, as I havent paid much attention to them. A good way would be googling something like ¨what soundcard for x headphones¨

Almost any sound card will be an upgrade compared to your onboard Realtek audio. The main benefits will be slightly cleaner sounding audio stream and additional features like the Dolby enhancements (which are nice for headphones and stereo systems).

Let me give you a few options that would be farily decent:

• ~$100: Asus Xonar U7 - Fairly new so may be a bit hard to find. Offers some decent features, especially for headphones. Also has an optical out for Home Theatre systems. Plus it's a USB device so you can take it with you if you have a laptop.
  
  
• ~$60: Asus Xonar DSX - PCI-E based card, basically the entry level card I would go for if you want an internal sound card. Has a decent set of features and has 7.1 analog output (for the cheaper surround sound systems).
  
  
• ~$180: Asus Xonar Essence STX - Probably the best solution for headphones as far as PCI-E sound cards go. Decent DAC, reasonable integrated headphone amp, and all the other typical Dolby features. Note that this, like the U7, does not have multiple 3.5mm analog outs like the DSX.
  
  Now the above DAC's/sound cards are suggested if you are looking for something that has support for a surround sound speaker system and also has the virtual surround software (Dolby headphone/Dolby home theater). If you don't care about those and are only going to have either a stereo (2 channel) setup then I would probably recommend something different.

I think you'd be better off buying a FiiO E11 instead of trying to get someone to trade with you. I mean, it's not exactly fair to do a straight trade of a $120 sound card for a $170 to $250 sound card.

This guy is actually right to some degree, man. You know how we all preffer, when talking about gaming, a dedicated graphics card? Well, the same thing happens with sound cards. GPU sound outputs aren't usually great and have a lot of interference, but that doesn't mean that all GPUs will have crappy outputs.

If you are comfortable with the sound that you have, well, keep it that way, because it's your setup and well, the point of having a setup is that you like it and are comfortable with it, though, I think you should give a dedicated sound card a try.

I use this one which works quite well (I don't see the need to run audio through HDMI, but perhaps that's just one of the perks of not being able to totally embrace the digital era that I will eventually deal with) and installation is a rather tricky business, but the card does deliver (at least in my case it did).

I use AKG Q701 headphones with an Asus Essence STX soundcard and a $20 desktop mic from bestbuy.

True headphones > Headset. I can hear everything!!!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004444O46/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001OV789U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

At Home Sennheiser HD650 powered by Asus Xonar STX

With my smartphone Etymotic HF2

I'm also thinking about getting the Sony Pulse Wireless headset later

Proof

Type|Item|
:----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i7-5930K |
CPU Cooler | Corsair H100i v2 |
Motherboard | EVGA Micro 2 MicroATX |-
Memory | Corsair Dominator Platinum 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 |
Storage | Samsung 850 250GB |
Storage | Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB |
Video Card | EVGA GeForce GTX Titan X 12GB Superclocked & ACX 2.0 |
Sound Card | Xonar STX
Case | Corsair Air 240 MicroATX |
Power Supply | Corsair 850W 80+ Platinum

added 6 corsair red LED fans, ram light bar kit and red corsair cables.

Something like this is more geared towards gaming but I believe that something like this has a better headphone AMP.

Get one of these badbois:

http://www.amazon.com/PCI-Express-XONAR-ESSENCE-STX-90-YAA0C0-0UAN00Z/dp/B001OV789U/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1415027835&sr=8-3&keywords=xonar

And get ready for your ears to ejaculate.

Type|Item
:----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (@ 4.4 GHz)
CPU Cooler | Phanteks PH-TC14PE_OR 78.1 CFM CPU Cooler | $85
Motherboard | Asus SABERTOOTH Z77 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard | $270
RAM | (2x for 8GB total) Transcend AxeRam 2x2GB 2400 MHz (10-12-11-28) | 2x $86
Sound Card | ASUS Xonar Essence STX | $190
GPU | EVGA GTX 780 B-Stock (@ GPU: 1000 MHz, Memory: 7000 MHz) | $420
PSU | SeaSonic Platinum 860W | $200
Storage | (2x in RAID 0) Corsair Force GT 120 GB SSD | $120
Storage | (2x in RAID 1) Seagate Barracuda 2 TB HDD | 2x $88
Case | Fractal R4, White with window | $100
Fans | (4x) Phanteks PH-F140TS_OR | 4x $10
Lights | NZXT Hue | $30
GPU Backplate | EVGA GTX 780 Backplate | $20

I don't have any recent pics, but it's an orange/white theme. EDIT: Mostly for running research simulations, but also does gaming and photo editing.

For PC Audio, I use a Asus Xonar STX. It has incredible sound and clarity, and is the hands down best audiophile soundcard available. It is also very good for gaming as well.

Its closer to $200, but you can find it for less if you look.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001OV789U/?tag=pcpapi-20

(He specifically asked for Sound Card, so that is what my advice is)

Hey folks. I'm looking for some input for a headphone upgrade. This is used for both music and gaming.

I'm presently using Audio Technica ATH-a700s. They're very comfortable for extended sessions, and the soundstage is fantastic (which is especially useful when gaming)

The soundcard is the Asus Xonar Essence STX, so higher impedance headphones wouldn't be a problem.

I have kind of a big head, too. I had a pair of Sennheiser HD280s and those felt like a clamp on my noggin and were uncomfortable after like 10 minutes.

A decent balance of isolation and wide soundstage is what I'm looking for, primarily.